Dalliance in Darkness ( Dalliance #1) (3 page)

At this point I wasn’t positive what exactly was driving me – a stream of passion or maybe a resonance for the way Carina spoke of home. Home was the perfect answer, the most dazzling of all the offerings she could have given. Warmth, love, safety, a full belly and a place to rest both head and heart. Every second that I spent searching both the map on my browser and referencing what I remembered of the places felt like minutes wasted. Maybe it’s a street?
I checked but came up empty handed. I get the feeling this game is stacked against me. I looked through dozens of the listed shops and venues of entertainment.

Assuming they were smart enough or merciful enough to factor in me taking at least several minutes attempting to power guess through this mess…
I scanned through the map again street by street, looking for anything that might resemble a lion. Had I not stubbornly decided to waste the cells of my brain and money away by shoving my nose between many a medical book I’m absolutely certain cryptography would have been my next pick. Pricks.

I paused for a moment hovering over a particular nightclub called
The Jungle
, the inner workings of my mind frantically working the confines of the puzzle. I punched in the coordinates and calculated the distance. It fits.

I grabbed my pants, wallet, phone and butterfly knife. For the first time in a long time I was feeling excitement again, real excitement and even a tinge of fear.

I’ll find you yet. Underwood.

Learning Lessons

I found myself out of breath and thanking the gods above for a moment of reprieve against the sun, a cloud blotting it out for a few precious minutes. The one thing I was running low on. The streets of Edmonds were always lively making it rather difficult to navigate past the sea of people, all of them caught up in the agendas of their own life. Performers, particularly musicians, played tunes for spare change – if I weren’t so broke and in a rush I would have stayed awhile just to listen. It wasn’t that artists go unappreciated, it was that the poor and lowest on the ladder were of little concern to the rest of the world.

Spotting the vibrant and large printed letters of the sign to The Jungle, I started crossing the street. Sickly warmth assailed me as I felt an invisible noose tighten around my neck, all the faces in the crowd started to seem more and more as if they were all looking at me. Judging me with cruel eyes. But I wouldn’t let that stop me, maybe I didn’t want to admit it as I didn’t want to see myself as greedy but the idea of getting the attention of Carina’s boss excited me for more than just the fun of it.

Beads of sweat began to roll down the sides of my face as I made my way to the side of the building and scouted for what would be the most likely suspect for an ideal meet and greet for an inconspicuous meeting of the minds. There was a café not a dozen something paces away from me. That’s a start.
I hurried to the crosswalk and impatiently waited for the signal to change to less disastrous colors.

She was already looking in my direction when I spotted her. I could still just make out that damned smirk on her face. Definitely a stepford smiler
.
Still, I walked up to her nonchalantly and contemplated sitting down.

Carina casually sipped her drink, a tiny crimson curl shifting from under her hat as she did so. “You look exhausted,” she raised a brow and glanced at the chair next to me suggesting I take a seat. I did no such foolish thing.

“Tends to happen when you bust ass,” I crossed my arms for a moment and looked over my shoulder unable to shake the unease that plagued me. “I’m taking it I won’t be getting much more than a pat on the back before being kept in the dark for a few days?”

She scoffed at that. “Summer child,” she said. She looked at me with those same interested hazel
 
eyes as before, the eyes I assumed were undressing me when I was alone with her. Her mind was always in constant motion, working away at some angle. She had some strange fascination with me… maybe deep and far away inside I felt something mutual, though I refused to accept such things.

“What?” I carefully edged my hand closer and closer to the pocket where I kept my knife for defense.

That cat of a woman caught it. “Smart of you to take something with you,” she said. “Stupid of you to lose it,” she wagged her finger briefly before pointing at me. “First lesson’s always free,” she locked eyes with me. “Never assume something isn’t connected, because chances are making that mistake will cost you your life,” she finished rather dramatically. Dumbstruck I shifted slightly and looked down at my pocket as I checked. She wasn’t lying, it really was gone – but there was something much more disturbing, something that made me lock up but want nothing more than to run.

It was red and had steady beat across my chest. I didn’t even know how long it had been there.

Carina grabbed her hat and brought it down to the table as my mind raced. They wouldn’t do it here. They won’t do it here. They won’t hurt you out in the open.
I repeated those words in my mind like a mantra of safety, as if it might stop the bullet from rupturing a hole in my chest.

Carina messed with her head of red curls as she spoke. “Second lesson Trish,” her tone was quiet but piercing, making me forget if only for a fleeting moment that someone had a gun pointed at me from gods know where. The quietest sigh escaped her lips in surprise at me not speaking a word. “Second lesson is that the deadliest trap is the one where the mark, in this case me…” she put a hand inside her hat and pulled out an ace of spades. Only one of us was in the mood for theatrics.

She held the card between two fingertips and kept her gaze locked on me. “Is willing to be bait,” she flicked her hand in a rapid, jerky movement. The card vanished in air; though I knew how that particular trick worked I found my tongue unwilling to let her know any better – fear proved an effective demotivator. I sank into the chair just across Carina and tried to put my worries far away as she showed me the back of her hand.

Her finger beckoned me closer. “Remember that,” she said. “Make like a spade and trick them into seeing what you want them to see,” it was then that I realized there was someone behind me – he crept into vision in the corner of my eye.

He was well dressed, almost impeccably so. Dark grey suit with a white dress shirt, unbuttoned just enough to expose his neck and a considerable amount of chest. He smelled earthly reminding me of someone I used to know, but only vaguely so. He stood next to Carina and put his hands in his pockets, his light brown hair parted hard to the left – he had short curls that I normally wouldn’t have found attractive.

Carina looked up at him. “What took you so long lover?” Her tone ripe with sarcasm, the man gave no indication of response aside from a sidelong glance.

The man then looked back at me and extended a hand to me. “Sorry,” he said simply, his voice a bit rough – sounded like he had a bit of Irish in his blood. Outside myself, I shook his hand; I hoped he could not feel the quivering.

His grip was firm. “James,” he informed. A hot jolt surged through me easily. “You’re not really in danger,” he assured with the genuine look of concern in his eye. Carina turned a shade more scarlet at hearing that.

“Hush now!” She demanded, glancing over his way and then back at me. I guess she figured the cat was out of the bag though it still didn’t help my nerves much. “Come now I wasn’t going to let that pretty little face of yours come to any real harm,” she almost purred. Tightness in my chest lifted away as the steady red laser abruptly vanished.

“Let her breathe won’t ‘ya?” James playfully smacked the back of her head. He had a golden band wrapped around his ring finger that I couldn’t help but notice. Was he married to her? For his sake I hope he has selective hearing.

Carina’s nose twitched imperceptibly. “Fine,” her frustration palpable. “Try not to stare at her tits you hound,” Carina slammed back whatever was left of her drink and got up to go inside. James snatched her seat and rested his elbow against the table, leaning his jaw against the base of his thumb.

“Give me the gift of your name, darlin,” he spoke with a friendly and undoubtedly warm cadence. “I mean, it’s only fair,” he shrugged and playfully raised a brow.

I finally found my voice, clearing my throat before speaking. “Sure you already know it,” I said. He smiled, and not in the snaky kind of way that I was used to seeing Carina flash me. I felt infinitely safer around him than I did her, but that went without saying – probably something to do with the fact that it didn’t seem like he was trying to play me. Then again, a part of me stayed uneasy at the thought of this James person being so relaxed.

If Carina was any indication, they worked for a powerful company – and if rumor on the net proved true then they did a lot more than just gather and collect data.

“Aye,” he said. I found it a shade curious that my chest swam with the warm tingling rush of excitement so soon after feeling my life was on the line. Though it was a bit hard to make out, I could both tell and guess from his line of work that James was ripped. “Suppose you’ll want to know what next our boss wants of ya,”

Maybe to make me piss myself in fear next
.
“So long as it doesn’t involve me being target practice.”

James shook his head. ”No more of that,” he said. “We want to test your gut,” he gestured a hand in my direction.

“My gut?”

“Aye,” it was weird and slightly irritating to hear him say that. “You’re to go in there,” he craned his head as he pointed back towards the inside of the café where Carina had gone. “You’re to find the target and make certain you remember all the details of em so when the devil herself comes knocking you’ll have somethin to tell her,” he spoke so fondly of Carina.

“Well who am I supposed to be looking out for?”

“Oh,” he said. “That’d be our boss,” James declared. He sunk back into his chair and folded his arms wishing me luck quietly.

Pride of the Lion

I walked up to the counter and took a seat on one of the many open stools, overall the place had anywhere between two and three dozen customers inside. I met eyes with one of the working waitresses. She was a young one with long golden tresses that framed her triangular face. Susannah her pin read
.

“Hi there,” she said in customer relations voice. “Would you like to try our special today?” She went on to describe a rather banal plate; I could probably cook better – maybe. If she was the person that I was looking for I’d be surprised, my heartstrings weren’t exactly being tugged here. Whatever remains of them I suppose
.
I ordered a banana milkshake to get her out of my hair as I casually surveyed the people that I could make out.

Perhaps my mark was the well dressed man in his business suit eating lunch with his partner. Then again something inside me had a feeling the person I was looking for would be flying solo. Maybe it wasn’t the lonely woman with short cut blonde hair playing with her phone. The old man casually examining the rest of us, much like I was. Then there was the young hotshot with short tipped brown hair who didn’t hide the fact that he was undressing me with his eyes.

Susannah came back with the milk shake that I ordered. I managed a small smile. “Thanks,” I said.

“You’re welcome,” her short nose twitched. “If you need anything else I’ll be around. Promise,” it was then that I had a thought. If Carina and James had been waiting here for a considerable time, including the time that the three of us spent talking – surely the person that I was looking for must have been here for a while.

“Actually,” a light hearted chuckle escaped me. This was going to sound beyond stupid, but a shot in the dark was all I had. “This may sound strange…”